Which micro/mATX/uATX mobo for an AMD 3600+

unhuman

Senior member
Oct 12, 1999
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Well, my bonus is going to be bigger than I expected, so, time to upgrade my HTPC. It's currently an Athlon XP 1700+, which will now become a kids computer.

Anyhow, gonna get an AMD 3600+ since it looks like they overclock so well... So, I'm looking for a decent mATX mobo for it.

Currently, it looks like Abit's NF-M2 nView is the best bet, but it does cost quite a bit more than the competition. Reviews of mATX boards are hard to find... BIOSTAR, ECS, FoxConn, all had nothing to find.

So, suggestions for a mobo with good OC'ing options would be nice... Oh, and CPU fan options would be good, since I might get an OEM chip. I have a large mATX case waiting, the Ultra FireFly, so there's a good amount of space - for a micro case that is.

Thanks!!!

Howie
 

Blorg

Member
Jul 16, 2005
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Looks like you picked the good one.
I've been looking as well. This appears to be the matx am2 to get.
And while other matx boards seem a lot cheaper, this one is only about 10 bucks more than the cheapest 6150/430 chipset board and is, from reviews, a much better board.
Let me know how it works out for you!

Blorg
 

Skott

Diamond Member
Oct 4, 2005
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Right now I dont think you can beat the ABIT NF-M2 nView for a mATX mobo. Especially if you want to OC it.
 

Zap

Elite Member
Oct 13, 1999
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There are actually two AMD x2 3600+ CPUs. One is the standard 90nm core and is 2GHz like the x2 3800+, but is half the cache (256k per core versus 512k per core). The other one is the new 65nm core and is "slower" at 1.9GHz, but has the 512k cache per core.

I say that if you want a good AM2 mATX board and want to overclock, then get the Abit NF-M2 nView. A cheaper board that overclocks well is the Biostar Tforce6100-AM2, but it is weak in that it has very minimal vDIMM, plus for an HTPC it doesn't have Firewire (for hooking up a digital camcorder) and doesn't have SPDIF connectors.

Oh yeah, beware of the cheaper Abit NF-M2S. It is not the same board.
 

Zap

Elite Member
Oct 13, 1999
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Being that it is an Asus mATX board... it's not gonna be too cheap compared to other brands with same chipset, plus it won't be a good overclocker. It does have the interesting video output card with HDMI and component, if you are using onboard video.
 

Epicenter

Junior Member
Feb 25, 2005
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The Biostar TForce-6100 series are REMARKABLE overclockers. I have 2 of them and they both support very high HTT settings, even past 300 MHz. I run my X2 4200+ at 2.8 GHz on this one. The BIOS also has lots of choices as far as dividers, clock increments and voltages go. And an automated overclocking feature, plus a lot of thermal protection features. Also they're cheap and have decent onboard video and very good onboard audio.
 

Zap

Elite Member
Oct 13, 1999
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Originally posted by: Epicenter
The Biostar TForce-6100 series are REMARKABLE overclockers.

Correct on all counts. However, the Abit NF-M2 nView is better than the Tforce6100-AM2. First, the Tforce is limited to 2.0v vDIMM while the Abit goes to 2.5v. Note that a lot of the higher speed DDR2 is spec'd for as high as 2.2v, meaning those DIMMs won't even work in the Tforce. I know it's beyond JEDEC specs, but that's just what is on the market. Also, with the same CPU I was able to take the Tforce to 330MHz HTT while I hit 360MHz HTT on the Abit, both stable.

BTW I've owned two Tforce6100, around 5 Tforce6100-939, one Tforce6100-AM2 and even a random Geforce6100-M7, so I know all about the Biostar boards. :p
 

unhuman

Senior member
Oct 12, 1999
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The review I found on the BIOSTAR said not so good OC'ing... But they are dirt cheap. I also wanted 4 ram slots - not sure if the BIOSTARs had that.
 

Epicenter

Junior Member
Feb 25, 2005
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I would imagine the AM2 variant would have a good bit of RAM voltage freedom. The -939 model I have supports over 3V, see the manual:

Image

The AM2 manual wasn't available on the site unfortunately but maybe you can look in your paper manual and see if there is a similar adjustment there.
 

Zap

Elite Member
Oct 13, 1999
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I reviewed the AM2 board and found vDIMM to max out at 2.0v.

I review the socket 754 Tforce6100 and noted the 3v vDIMM jumper.

Originally posted by: unhuman
The review I found on the BIOSTAR said not so good OC'ing... But they are dirt cheap. I also wanted 4 ram slots - not sure if the BIOSTARs had that.

See my AM2 review linked above. Nice overclocking (just "not as good" as the Abit) and has 4 DIMM slots. Only the socket 754 version does not have 4 DIMM slots.